Media Credit: Jon Huang Speaking to UT students and faculty, Microsoft founder Bill Gates spoke of the future of technology, the software industry, the goals of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and his last day in office. Gates is officially leaving Microsoft to pursue full-time philanthropy.

Microsoft Corp. founder and billionaire Bill Gates urged students to help the less fortunate and get involved in a cause of their choice at a talk Wednesday morning.

Gates spoke to UT computer science and electrical and computer engineering students as part of his five-campus tour. He will conclude the tour before stepping down from his full-time position at Microsoft to focus on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

"Today, it seems that the personal computer has made a huge difference, but the technological innovation in the next decade will really surprise people," Gates said.

"This phenomenon of the personal computer and the Internet are not confined to the United States or even to the rich countries. In fact, it's this technology that has made the world a smaller place," Gates said.

Gates criticized the decreased federal funding to research initiatives at the university and commercial levels.

"The benefits of long-term oriented research, both in the university environment and in the commercial environment, is greatly underestimated," he said. "We should make sure that our relative advantage and our relative goals are maintained in a very strong form."

This concern was shared among computer science faculty and Gates at an hour-long private roundtable discussion prior to his talk to students.

"The focus of the meeting was almost entirely on the types of research programs and focus that faculty members have," said Benjamin Kuipers, a computer science professor. "He raised a question of how Microsoft research could improve its relationship with university researchers."

Kuipers said they talked about the funding provided by the National Science Foundation and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency because the federal government has been changing its focus to mission-specific research that fails to fuel the pipeline of the nation's economy.

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